Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
FREDERIC CHOPIN: Barcarolle op.60 - KRYSTIAN ZIMERMAN
Photos: POLAND,Mazury
The Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60 is a piece for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin, composed between autumn of 1845 and summer 1846, three years before his death. Based on the barcarolle rhythm and mood, it features a sweepingly romantic and slightly wistful tone. Many of the technical figures for the right hand are thirds and sixths, while the left features very long reaches over an octave.
This is one of Chopin's last major compositions, along with his Op.61 Polonaise-Fantasie.
Barcarolle, or boat song, gondoliers' song, had been composed by many composers in the 19th century such as Mendelssohn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Faure, Rachmaninoff... During this time, the salon characteristic pieces had been very popular. The title almost reveals the contents of love duets on Venetian rivers. Mendelssohn composed a few barcarolles and organized them in his books "Songs without words". Unlike Mendelssohn, Chopin composed only one, but invaluable, barcarolle toward the end of his life. He started it in 1845, finished in 1846, and dedicated it to Baroness Stockhausen. This barcarolle shares the same features of Venetian boats, water and paddles, and love songs but stands alone as an individual large-scale work and achieves the highest standard in harmony and structure. Many composers after Chopin tried to follow Chopin but just could not succeed. Chopin's barcarolle is favored by many pianists but only a few of them could interpret it successfully. The barcarolle, like a nocturne, is structured in A-B-A form. Its introduction begins with a bass in C# and falling modulation through each key of the main key signature F# major, provoking an air of uncertainty. After a silent moment, the main theme begins with the paddle pattern on the left hand that repeats throughout the first part. The singing melody on the right hand is so ethereal and as beautiful as those of his nocturnes. The main theme is repeated in thirds and sixths, leads to a successive rising chords and fades out from F# major through F# minor to conclude the first section. A solo section on the right hand connects the first section to the second section in A major. The rhythm is now clearer with rocking phrases and modulations from G# to F#. The arpeggios in G# and F# resemble the water drops singing and flying out from the paddles. The movement is getting faster and more agitated with octaves and reaches two climaxes also in G# and F#. The gradual fading and sudden switching of key to F# minor slow down all the agitations, somehow regretfully, yet lead to another more peaceful theme also in A major as an answer to the first part. Then the paddles almost stop rowing, the boat flows freely into the water, and the lovers fall into their dreams. This slow recitation in the bass leads to a sweet transition to F# major again before returning to the main theme. The recap also begins with double trills but it is much more agitated than the first section. Also a series of rising chords leads to the peaceful part from the middle section, but now more passionate, dramatic, struggling and in F# major, not A major, with one octave higher. The coda is a series of modulation and harmony that is far beyond the reality, like rowing over the cloud and flying in the air. The cloud brings the boat back to the river through the striking main key F# and the lovers awake from their dreams with two key octaves C# and F# as a conclusion to this wonderful love duet.
FREDERIC CHOPIN: Barcarolle op.60 - KRYSTIAN ZIMERMAN
Photos: POLAND,Mazury
The Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60 is a piece for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin, composed between autumn of 1845 and summer 1846, three years before his death. Based on the barcarolle rhythm and mood, it features a sweepingly romantic and slightly wistful tone. Many of the technical figures for the right hand are thirds and sixths, while the left features very long reaches over an octave.
This is one of Chopin's last major compositions, along with his Op.61 Polonaise-Fantasie.
Barcarolle, or boat song, gondoliers' song, had been composed by many composers in the 19th century such as Mendelssohn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Faure, Rachmaninoff... During this time, the salon characteristic pieces had been very popular. The title almost reveals the contents of love duets on Venetian rivers. Mendelssohn composed a few barcarolles and organized them in his books "Songs without words". Unlike Mendelssohn, Chopin composed only one, but invaluable, barcarolle toward the end of his life. He started it in 1845, finished in 1846, and dedicated it to Baroness Stockhausen. This barcarolle shares the same features of Venetian boats, water and paddles, and love songs but stands alone as an individual large-scale work and achieves the highest standard in harmony and structure. Many composers after Chopin tried to follow Chopin but just could not succeed. Chopin's barcarolle is favored by many pianists but only a few of them could interpret it successfully. The barcarolle, like a nocturne, is structured in A-B-A form. Its introduction begins with a bass in C# and falling modulation through each key of the main key signature F# major, provoking an air of uncertainty. After a silent moment, the main theme begins with the paddle pattern on the left hand that repeats throughout the first part. The singing melody on the right hand is so ethereal and as beautiful as those of his nocturnes. The main theme is repeated in thirds and sixths, leads to a successive rising chords and fades out from F# major through F# minor to conclude the first section. A solo section on the right hand connects the first section to the second section in A major. The rhythm is now clearer with rocking phrases and modulations from G# to F#. The arpeggios in G# and F# resemble the water drops singing and flying out from the paddles. The movement is getting faster and more agitated with octaves and reaches two climaxes also in G# and F#. The gradual fading and sudden switching of key to F# minor slow down all the agitations, somehow regretfully, yet lead to another more peaceful theme also in A major as an answer to the first part. Then the paddles almost stop rowing, the boat flows freely into the water, and the lovers fall into their dreams. This slow recitation in the bass leads to a sweet transition to F# major again before returning to the main theme. The recap also begins with double trills but it is much more agitated than the first section. Also a series of rising chords leads to the peaceful part from the middle section, but now more passionate, dramatic, struggling and in F# major, not A major, with one octave higher. The coda is a series of modulation and harmony that is far beyond the reality, like rowing over the cloud and flying in the air. The cloud brings the boat back to the river through the striking main key F# and the lovers awake from their dreams with two key octaves C# and F# as a conclusion to this wonderful love duet.
